Swimming: Eagles’ Scheuer repeats as District 11 AA girls’ diving champion
Blue Mountain's Hailey Scheuer poses with the District 11 champion placard after winning her second straight District 11 Class AA diving title Saturday at Emmaus High School (Photo by Josh Zelinsky).
EMMAUS — Hailey Scheuer was in a familiar position after five dives at Saturday’s District 11 Diving Championships.
The Blue Mountain sophomore, as has been the case in her other big competitions, was trailing, this time by 24 points to Allentown Central Catholic’s Alyssa Stahlnecker.
Scheuer’s success, however, has been mastering a strong group of dives in the back half of her 11-dive routine. It led to victories at the Schuylkill League Diving Invitational in January and a second straight Schuylkill League Diving Championships crown two weeks ago at North Schuylkill.
“I know my first five dives were how I was looking them to be,” Scheuer said, “but I knew the dives in my back half were going to be pretty good so I was just hoping I could come back with those dives in the end.”
Once again, Scheuer’s big second half led to victory.
Scheuer used a final surge to pull past Stahlnecker and capture her second straight Class AA championship Saturday morning at Emmaus High School. Scheuer finished with 344.45 points, 10.65 points ahead of Stahlnecker.
The gold medal qualifies her for the PIAA Diving Championships to be held Wednesday, March 12, at 12:40 p.m. at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
“I definitely focused more on diving and put more time on the board this past week than in the pool,” Scheuer said. “I did not want to be tired for this meet.”
Scheuer’s strong second half started with her sixth dive, a forward 1.5 somersault in the pike position. Scheuer sliced 6.75 points off Stahlnecker’s lead with that dive, then outscored Stahlnecker by 15.6 points on her seventh and eighth dives.
Her ninth dive, a back 1.5 somersault in the straight position, moved her into the lead and she never looked back. She capped the victory with a 36.45 score on her final dive.
Stahlnecker finished second in the eight-girl competition with 333.80, also earning a trip to Bucknell.
